The streets become slowly overrun by the people who seemingly come back from the dead. In the midst of the chaos, William tries to fight his way through the screams while trying to pull his new bride Shannon. She has been attacked by one of these monsters and William has refused to give up on her as he fights swinging a bat with one arm with the other hooked behind her back. The two had been fighting their way home since leaving the airport in Houston where their flight had just landed. William fights his way past a few of these infected who feast upon recognizable neighbors as he makes his way to the front door of their apartment building.
Upon reaching their floor, the two see four more infected in the hallway between them and their front door. Propping Shannon in the corner, William turns his attention to the hallway as he runs in swinging the bat trying to make a safe path to reach safety before one of them is hurt worse. He has seen all the zombie movies and while unsure just what is going on, he has managed to keep them safe except for the clawing his wife took across her stomach and chest. William has only one objective in his mind..... save his wife. Once the last of the infected has been put down, William unlocks the door and breathes a sigh of relief before the screams of his wife shatter the piece.
William Daniels feels the pain of the vision in his head before he ever turns. The next few seconds feels like an eternity as he turns and sees Shannon pinned against the wall as a straggling infected who must have came down the steps has begun biting and tearing flesh from her shoulder. The world moves in slow motion as he runs hoping to save her as he raises the bat into the air with a hair curling war cry and charges to save her. His mind goes blank from rage as his first swing catches her attacker in the side of his skull, the impact is so forceful the skull cracks but the newlyweds are blind to the sound as he kicks her attacker towards the window and swings again to the front of the skull. The blow is the traumatic shot needed to put the infected down, but rage fills William's heart and mind as he continues beating the skull until it has turned into a dribbling smear across the window. As Shannon fights through the pain, she tried to stop her husbands rage as his blows begin breaking collarbones and glass. William becomes self-aware and quickly pulls his shirt off trying to tie her shoulder into a tourniquet to stop the bleeding before trying to help her walk.
"Leave me, please." she chokes out as he tries to pull her along to safety, "You can't take me in there with you. I will become one of them and I ...." William covers her mouth as he tries to help her walk against her will.
"You are talking Hollywood movie bullshit... this is real. I'm not just leaving you here. Now walk with me or I stay right here with you." William looks her deep in the eyes with an obvious fake smile as she tries to collapse to the floor in the hope he will save himself. William bends down to scoop her up in his arms and begins walking.
"Don't make me do this sweetie, I'm going to become one of those things and..." Shannon's words are once again stopped by her husband's attempt to ease her mind.
"If you die on me, I will deal with that then. For now, I take care of you. Now hush." William's words fall on unconscious ears as Shannon has passed out from the pain. Laying his wife on the couch, he runs over locking and bolting the door before putting every piece of furniture he can blocking the door. He begins snickering to himself over the pieces he uses, each one something they had once argued the need and usefulness of.... "Maybe she was planning for this day. She always did plan for it joking around." is the last thought in his head before he turns back to pick her up and move to the bedroom where he can try to stitch her arm and clean her up.
Later in the evening, William has managed to stop the bleeding and bandaged her shoulder and stomach as he runs his fingertips around her face tracing the details of every facial feature as he prays he will have a full lifetime appreciating. He runs his thumb around her slightly thin lips that held a smile that lit his world up brightly hoping she will soon open her eyes, the same eyes she always made a fuss over wishing they were as brown as his never realizing just how her glowing green eyes pierced him to the core. He runs his fingers up brushing her long dark hair back and begins to choke back tears as he begins feeling helpless. William knows she needs professional care, but there is no way he can carry her through all the chaos outside as the tears begin to flow. He finally lays down beside his wife putting a hand on her stomach lightly rubbing as he cries himself to sleep hoping she will be awake soon.
Morning comes as William opens his eyes to Shannon's caress on his cheek. She is so pale and obviously weak as she strains to rub his cheek. Raising his head up and smiling, her slight grin and the beautiful green eyes he hoped to see again invite him into a soft caring kiss as the two caress each other gently.
"You scared me dearheart, I was afraid I lost you. Best morning ever waking up to you. Let me fix you something to eat, any suggestions?" His smiles causes her to return one in kind, trying to hide the fact the thought of food makes her want to vomit. Shannon smiles and cups her hand behind his head tugging him to her for a kiss.
"I just want you to stay here with me, not feeling the food right now." One more soft kiss before William brushes her face one last time with his fingers before standing.
"Not open for discussion, but I think I can at least get so chicken noodle for you. It will be quick and I will be back shortly." William smiles and leans down for one last kiss before heading through the door to the kitchen.
"Love me." William blurts out in his usual sweet tone as Shannon returns a slightly hoarse "Love me too." as he makes his way into the kitchen searching the cabinets for the soup, smiling as he becomes so thankful she is still alive.
As he cooks and begins throwing together a makeshift breakfast in bed, Shannon lays in bed as she begins fighting for her breath. She is not able to gasp in enough air to scream out for help as her body is quickly overtaken by seizures. All she wants to do is scream out to her husband to run as fear begins gripping her. She tries to simply hope she knows nothing of what is going to happen if she turns into one of the things that bit her, that she doesn't have to see herself kill the man she loves. It is a thought she cannot finish as her body freezes as she chokes in her last breath.
William smiles as he finishes the last touches to the breakfast table. He tries to make the slightly wilted carnations look more appealing since they were the best he could do for flowers. He adds just a dash of honey to the weak cup of tea he had made for her, a beverage she usually hates but he hopes to convince her it's very medicinal and necessary. Picking up the tray and turning to the kitchen door, William is shocked to see Shannon standing in the doorway, stopping like she was walking past the door. Her hair has fallen over her face and she seems unaware as she pauses and slowly turns towards the kitchen.
"Shannon? Baby, are you okay?" William stops and stands with the small bed table happy she is moving, but unsure if she should be. Before he can turn to sit the meal down to help her, the horrific growl echos out as she lunges at him taking them both down as she tackles him. William panics as he tries to push her back enough, Shannon however has become stronger than she ever has been. Her hair flops about as she tries to lunge and bite him, her teeth snapping shut hard every attempt. Through the hair flopping about, William sees the face of his wife to see the green eyes he fell in love with are clouded over and milky white as the color has faded from them to an almost faded baby blue.
Able to get a hold, William manages to wrestle her off the top of him and begins to quickly reach his feet. His movements, no matter how fast, prove to be futile as she grabs his right arm and bites a large plug of skin from his underarm. He screams out in pain as he begins yanking his arm as she begins taking another bite. On his feet and yanking sharply, William frees his arm at the expense of the flesh caught between Shannon's teeth. William falls into the wall in the hallway and heads towards the bathroom as she quickly pounces on him again as the two fall and roll down the hallway. William tries his best to stop the roll as both slam into the doorway of their bedroom with Shannon flopping through the doorway slightly. As she stands, he desperately kicks towards her sending her backwards and quickly scrambles to lock the door before closing it.
As she pounds on the door in an attempt to break the door down, William pulls his shirt off and trying to wrap it around his arm while trying to find his bearings. As the pounding on the door becomes more relentless, he finally stands to walk to the bathroom and hopefully slow the bleeding. Before he can take the first step, the door splinters out as his crazed wife's hands comes through grabbing his neck and trying to yank him to the door. The tug of war between the two becomes vicious as he braces his hands on the door, his brace seems to frustrate her to the point a loud shrill comes echoing through the hole as she gives one last hard yank. The loss of grip causes her to fall back onto the floor and relieving William until he sees the spray of blood pulsing out onto the door and floor. Falling against the wall and fighting his way along, William reaches the bathroom and shuts the door locking it behind him.
William feels a hard cough coming, but before he can brace for it a quick gurgle and squirt of blood flies outwards as he fights his way to the mirror. Trying to scream, he finds himself unable as he sees his neck in the mirror. Shannon's grip was so tight she ripped a huge chunk from his neck deep enough he can see the inside of his own throat and realizes the trickle in his throat is his own blood flowing back in as his jugular squirts in rhythm with his quickening heart. The screams and pounding from the bedroom fade away as William Daniels stands watching the life pump from his body quicker by the second. The sight becomes too much as he falls to his knees banging his chin on the porcelain sink and bouncing over into the side of the tub head first, feeling jawbone and skull break on each blow before falling into the floor. Too weak to move at this point, William can only lay in the floor and watch the slowing growth of the puddle of blood as everything slowly fades to black.
No comments:
Post a Comment